


One day in May

by listenforthelove



Category: No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: M/M, something something muffins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 04:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3882697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listenforthelove/pseuds/listenforthelove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shion and Nezumi watch the bakery while Karan is out for groceries. </p><p>Some pointless fluff to make up for last month. Fluff apparently translating to 'muffins' in my brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One day in May

**Author's Note:**

> Happy No. 6 Day, May 2015!
> 
> Written to make up for last month (Warmth); I tried to do something fluffy, but instead I mostly wrote about muffins. Again. I have a muffin problem.  
> Set in the same verse as Of Cold and Muffins, though I have no idea which one that even is. Post-reunion? High school AU? We just don't know.

“Careful now,” Shion muttered to himself. He was attempting to carry a tray full of freshly baked cookies straight from the oven into the bakery, but considering there was no-one to hold the door for him, this turned out to be quite the challenge.

Eventually, Shion had managed to lower the door handle with his elbow and he squirmed his way through the opening, barely saving the cookies from falling on the floor. He was just in time to witness Nezumi petting a familiar little customer on her head and turning around to grab a muffin from the display on the cash register.

Shion carefully but loudly put down his tray. “Hey, I saw that.”

If his sudden presence had alarmed Nezumi, he didn’t show it. “Karan said I could,” he simply said, peeling the paper off the muffin’s bottom.

Shion’s gaze lingered at the door, where he caught a last glance of the little girl by that name as she skipped away with her basket. “Did she, now.”

Nezumi rolled his eyes. “I mean your mama, not the kid,” he said. “Damn, those double names are confusing as hell. Would it kill people to be a little more original these days?”

“Well.” Shion paused for a bit as he took the cookies from the tray, oven mittens still on as they were quite hot indeed. He should probably praise himself lucky that Nezumi was too occupied with his muffin now to try and snatch one. It wouldn’t be a first Nezumi burnt his tongue and didn’t want to hear Shion’s ‘it’s your own fault for stealing’ speech. “You could make this one more easy, at least. My mother really wouldn’t mind if you started calling her mom instead of Ms. Karan or Shion’s mama.”

So maybe he should have waited with that one until Nezumi had finished his bite. As it was, he choked on the piece of muffin in his mouth (and he’d taken quite a generous bite to begin with) and started coughing violently and knocking against his chest to dislodge the piece.

Shion only took minor pity on him, enough to pat him on the back until he seemed to have recovered. “Come on, Nezumi. You know my mother adores you, she’d be thrilled.”

Nezumi shot him a burning glare in lieu of talking, but it did the trick quite efficiently to convey his dismay.

Shion just laughed in amusement as he thought of something. “Hey, I know – you can make it your Mother’s Day present for her!”

“Careful where you spout that sap, your highness,” Nezumi grumbled, “you don’t want to spoil perfectly good muffins. Or those cookies you finally managed to pull off, for that matter.”

“Got your priorities straight as always, I notice.”

“Damn right.” But contrary to what his words suggested, Nezumi put the remainder of his muffin (cheese, Shion noted) back on the paper it had been wrapped in and turned to face Shion. “Still wearing that apron?”

“Well, yes. I had to mix the dough and I didn’t want to spoil my clothes.”

“Hm. I see.” Nezumi smirked. “Need some help taking it off?”

To his credit, Shion only mildly flushed at the suggestive tone Nezumi had adopted. “I think I am quite capable of untying knots myself, thanks.”

“Spoilsport,” Nezumi said, though it was really more of a murmur and his mouth was suddenly very close to Shion’s ear. “So set on denying me every bit of fun today, aren’t you. First ruining my muffin, now this.”

Shion sighed in what he intended to sound like exasperation, but he knew he was by far not as good an actor as Nezumi. “Well, I _do_ need to take it off once my mother gets back, so if it makes you happy…”

“Much obliged, my liege.” Nezumi’s hands travelled slowly down Shion’s spine, his fingers expertly but also much more slowly than strictly necessary undoing the knot against the small of Shion’s back. Shion felt the strips of cloth fall down against his thighs, but Nezumi’s hands didn’t move from their spot against his back and were in fact making an effort to pull him in closer.

Shion’s own hands found themselves around Nezumi’s waist then, having miraculously wandered there by no conscious volition of Shion. “See, I think you’re supposed to lift the strap over my head now,” Shion muttered.

Nezumi smirked. “Ah, but where’s the fun in that?”

“It would be more practical. If you do intend to take off that apron, that is, which I thought was the plan.”

“Hm. I changed my mind.”

“Then take responsibility and tie it back on.”

“Want to make me?” Nezumi’s grin grew broader as his fingers slowly slipped under Shion’s shirt, better within reach now that it was no longer tied by the apron.

Shion managed to keep a straight face with much effort. “I _will_ bite your nose off.”

He sounded just convincing enough to make Nezumi flinch for a fraction of a second, quick to move his nose out of biting range immediately. Shion took the opportunity to shove Nezumi’s hands from his bare skin, which he wasn’t necessarily opposed to if under different circumstances. He did however have some objections from an ethical (and depending on Nezumi’s intentions, possibly hygienic) point of view when it came to his mother’s bakery.

With Nezumi’s hands chastely around Shion’s waist, shirt and apron separating them from his skin, Shion felt confident enough to return Nezumi’s grin. “What, still afraid of me?”

“I sincerely can’t tell if you were being serious or not. It’s very disconcerting.” Nezumi wrinkled his nose. “Seriously, Shion, careful with the face. I can’t go on without a nose, it’s unsightly.”

“Oh, right. I forgot you could be such a narcissist.”

“And as I told you before, I simply happen to have an accurate idea of myself. What’s beautiful is beautiful.”

“Sure.” Shion bumped their noses together, which to his credit, Nezumi didn’t recoil from this time. “Well, I still think you’re beautiful no matter wh-…”

“ _Ugh_ , Shion. What did I just tell you about sap.”

“Right, sorry.” Shion promptly pressed a soft, quick kiss on those beautifully sculpted lips. “This better?”

 “Oh yes, much.”

Just as Shion was about to follow up on that, a soft but very present little cough interrupted their moment together. A cough he knew only too well at that, too. “M- _mom_!”

“Hello, Ms. Karan.” Nezumi’s voice was even and polite and not the slightest bit startled by the sudden intrusion, but then again, he _was_ a very good actor. “You’re back quickly. Did you get all your shopping done?”

“Yes, thank you.” Karan smiled at her embarrassed son and the boy who had his arms around him, both of them standing behind the counter in plain, plain sight, Shion realized in horror as he felt his face grow hotter. “And thank you boys for watching the store in my absence, though I do hope you didn’t ignore any customers like you just ignored me.”

“We’d never ignore you, mom! We were just…”

“We sold out the bread and most of the muffins,” Nezumi interrupted Shion, not even taking the effort of removing his hands from his waist. “And Shion had just returned with a new batch of cookies, so I was telling him good job.”

“Oh, I see.” Karan chuckled in a way that said she didn’t buy it for a bit, but since Nezumi wasn’t lying about the sold goods and the displays were indeed rather empty, she seemed pleased either way. “That’s great.  Alright, if you two would be so kind to watch the store for me until I have put the groceries away, you can have another muffin.”

Shion suppressed his laughter as he saw Nezumi’s eyes light up at that suggestion. “Thanks, mom.”

“Of course.” Karan had momentarily put down one of her bags, freeing her hand so that she could ruffle both boys’ hair. “I’d let you have the whole batch if I didn’t have to sell them too. A mother should spoil her children every now and then, right?”

It was just as well that she made her way to the kitchen then, softly humming to herself as she carried her seemingly heavy bags, since Nezumi was for once at a total loss of words and overall quite flustered around the edges.

“Told you so,” Shion simply said, thinking this was really nothing new and contorting his body just enough to grab two muffins from the counter without losing Nezumi’s grip. That was harder than it sounded, considering Nezumi’s hands had all but lost their hold on Shion’s waist.

He offered one of the muffins to Nezumi by all but pushing it in his face. “Here.”

Nezumi squinted at the pastry. “That’s raisin.”

“Okay, seriously?”

“Obviously. I know for a fact the chocolate muffins have sold out, largely because I did most of the selling here this afternoon since his majesty was otherwise occupied ruining cookie recipes in the back, so that only leaves raisin muf – hmph.”

Talking with a mouthful of raisin muffin was a task even Nezumi hadn’t yet mastered, though he quickly resolved the matter by taking a bite and taking the muffin in his hand. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Shion.”

“Still close enough to bite your nose,” Shion pointed out. He settled on a compromise and pressed a quick kiss on that very nose he’d just threatened. “You know, I think you should go help my mother unpack. I’ll relieve you of your sales duties for a while, how about it?”

He’d half-expected Nezumi to protest, something along the lines of having done enough helping for today, but he simply retrieved his half-eaten cheese muffin and made his way to the kitchen.

Shion couldn’t hear what he called Karan as he entered, and he kind of doubted Nezumi would abruptly switch to ‘mom’ or a variation of it today anyway. Maybe a seed had been planted, though.

He heard his mother’s laugh, light and cheerful, followed by the murmur of Nezumi’s voice. Shion smiled to himself as he rearranged the cookies he’d baked earlier for display and secretly listened to the voices of two people so dear to him, even if he couldn’t hear what they were saying and even if odds were pretty good that at least Nezumi was mocking Shion’s baking attempts. He’d have a point, too, considering this was the third batch Shion had baked and the only one that was remotely suited for sales. So much for experimenting with recipes.

“Shion?” That was his mother’s voice, this time loud enough to carry into the bakery.

“Yes?”

Karan appeared again from the kitchen, smiling broadly. “I was thinking that maybe we should close the bakery early today,” she said. “You boys helped out a lot while I was out, and I think we can finish that one cherry cake we still have left with the three of us, don’t you?”

 

And so in the end, no noses were bit off after all; the cherry cake was eaten in its entirety despite Nezumi having devoured two muffins shortly before; kisses were stolen in the hallway; Karan was called ‘mom’ by at least one of her two sons, and Shion realized all the more that night that ‘family’ and ‘love’ came in many different, but no less or more important shapes.  


End file.
